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ORIGIN OF 
BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 



BY 
ALBERT MATTHEWS 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

Ctje Colonial Jboticty of St^assactjusetts 
Vol. XX 



CAMBRIDGE 
JOHN WILSON AND SON 

Wot ©nttotmtg #rtss 
1918 



,e 



mv 2 wife 



ORIGIN OF 
BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 



Though half a century has elapsed since the close of the Civil 
War, during which the above terms (in the sense here discussed) 
arose, yet even now their origin and history remain obscure. In- 
deed, Butternut is sometimes wrongly explained by historians, and 
has received scant attention from lexicographers and writers on 
Americanisms; while the origin of Copperhead is still a matter of 
dispute. Hence an investigation into the history of the terms will 
prove instructive and of interest both in itself and as showing the 
curious ways in which words undergo changes in meaning. 

In their American History, published in 1914, Arthur C. Perry, 
Jr., and Gertrude A. Price write: 



206 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

There were many people even in the North who did not believe in the 
war. They really sympathized with the South and rejoiced when the 
Federal arms met reverses. These people were given the name of Cop- 
perheads because many of them wore as a badge the head of the Goddess 
of Liberty, cut out of an old-fashioned copper cent. 

Quoting this passage in the Nation of February 28, 1918, W. P. 
Reeves said : 

Such a perversion of notorious facts, with the implication that the 
Copperheads wore a badge of loyalty made of a Federal coin, requires 
proof. A questioning child, referred to the usual explanations of terms 
to be found in such available authorities as Webster's " International," 
the "Century," the "International Encyclopedia," and the "New Eng- 
lish Dictionary," will find nothing to suggest, much less substantiate, 
this origin of Copperhead. Will Mr. Perry, or any one else who believes 
his statement, kindly print his proof ? l 

On March 14 Mr. Perry replied as follows: 

I have noted the letter by W. P. Reeves in the Nation of February 28, 
1918, questioning the statement in Perry-Price "American History," 
Second Book, page 198, that many Copperheads of Civil War times wore 
as a badge the Liberty head cut out of an old-fashioned cent. 

The statement is confirmed by Bassett, " Short History of the United 
States," p. 582; Hart, "Essentials in American History," p. 472; Hosmer, 
"Outcome of the Civil War," p. 4; Rhodes, "History of the United 
States," IV, p. 247. 

Moreover, the International Encyclopaedia, to which Mr. Reeves ap- 
peals, in its new edition of 1914, Vol. VI, p. 61, says: 

"Another explanation of the name is that it came from the habit of 
the extreme opponents of the war wearing as a badge a button cut out 
of a copper cent on which was the head of the Goddess of Liberty." 2 

It is to be noted, however, that while Messrs. Hart, Hosmer, 
and Rhodes do confirm the statement that such badges were 



i cvi. 236. 

1 cvi. 291. In the same issue a correspondent says: "It is the copperhead 
snake which Ohioans had in mind when they invented this epithet for their dis- 
loyal neighbors — and I think there is no doubt that it was invented in Ohio" 
(pp. 291-292). That the word "was invented in Ohio" may be true, but is 
probably incapable of proof, and the earliest known instance is from Illinois, in 
reference to Indiana. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 207 

worn, 1 neither of them offers any opinion as to the origin of the 
term, and that Mr. Bassett is the only one who maintains that 
the Copperheads were so called because they wore such badges. 2 
Thus the statement made in American History is corroborated by 
Mr. Bassett's assertion, but the latter is unsupported by proof. 
Nor, it may be observed, do the extracts quoted in the Oxford 
English Dictionary, in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, 
in Thornton's American Glossary, or in Farmer and Henley's 
Slang and its Analogues, throw any light on the origin of the 
term. 

The examination here undertaken not only places beyond dispute 
the origin of Butternut and Copperhead, but introduces us to two 
or three expressions which have apparently escaped historians and 
lexicographers alike. The subject may be divided into three sec- 
tions: (1) the words Butternut and Copperhead; (2) the Butternut 
and Copperhead badges; and (3) Copperhead snakes and Black 
snakes. No hard and fast line can be drawn between the sections, 
which naturally overlap one another to a certain extent; but the 
division will prove convenient. 

I 

The Words Butternut and Copperhead 

The Chicago Tribune of September 24, 1862, printed this item: 
"JB^TvIohn Pettit has been nominated for Congress by the Copper- 
heads of the 8th Indiana district" (p. 2/5); and the same paper of 
September 29, under the heading "What a Democratic Journal 
Thinks," stated that "The Carbondale (Jackson county) Times takes 
strong grounds against the recent Copperhead convention of this 
state" (p. 2/2). The word also occurs in the Cincinnati Commer- 



1 Mr. Hart merely states that the badges were worn; Messrs. Hosmer and 
Rhodes say that they were worn at a meeting held in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, May 1, 
1863. 

* "Meanwhile, 'Copperheads' appeared. The epithet was applied by their 
enemies to all Democrats; but it should properly be given only to those extreme 
opponents of the war who went so far as to seem by their agitation to give aid 
to the South. The name came from the habit of wearing as a badge a button 
cut from the head of a copper cent, on which was the head of the Goddess of 
Liberty. The movement began late in 1862" (Short History of the United 
States, 1913, p. 582). 



208 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

cial of October 1 * and 14. 2 On October 15, under the heading 
"Butternuts," the Columbus Crisis asked: "Will the Cincinnati 
Commercial and Gazette inform us who are the 'Butternuts' now? 
Any boobies about those offices?" 3 In the Cleveland Herald of 
October 16 appeared these items: 

A BUTTERNUT LAMENT. 

A Democrat this morning, in looking over the returns from the Toledo 
District, discovered that had the Democrats all through the district 
stuck to Phelps, he would have been elected. Our "butternut" friend 
exclaimed: "What a pity we lost that district." 4 

Who threw that brickbat? One of our most prominent Democrats, 
on hearing from the Lorain District, instructed one of the hatters to 
import immediately a large invoice of "butternut" colored hats. 5 

1 Writing in 1899 Mr. Rhodes said: 

"I have made and had made a considerable search for the first use of the term 
'Copperhead.' The earliest that I have found it employed is in the Cincinnati 
Commercial of Oct. 1, 1862, in an article entitled 'Comfort for "Copperheads."' 
The writer charges the Gazette (a rival Republican journal) with a course which is 
'driving the fighting Democrats into the ranks of the Vallandigham party.' In 
the Commercial, when used afterwards, Copperhead is printed without the quota- 
tion marks. It occurs several times in October, November, and December, 1862. 
The curious may also find several illustrative uses of the word in the Chicago 
Tribune, Jan. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 22; N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 12, Feb. 11; N. Y. Times, 
Feb. 13. Robert C. Winthrop in Boston, Nov. 2, 1864, spoke as if he were not 
ashamed of the name. 'Abandon the Constitution,' he said, 'and the Ship of 
State is left tossing upon a shoreless sea, without rudder or compass, liable at 
any moment to be dashed to pieces on the rocks. And though I have no heart 
for pleasantry on such a topic, let me add that if in such a case the good ship shall 
escape such a catastrophe and be rescued from final wreck, it will be only because 
she will have been treated in advance to a thorough sheathing of copper from stem 
to stern'" (History of the United States, iv. 224 note). 

The "pleasantry" was not original with Winthrop, occurring as early as Octo- 
ber 22, 1862: see p. 209, below. A file of the Cincinnati Commercial is not acces- 
sible in Boston or Cambridge. I have examined the Chicago Tribune for Sep- 
tember-December, 1862, and January 1-22, 1863; the Crisis from September, 
1862, to May, 1863, both included; and various other papers and magazines dur- 
ing the first few months of 1863. 

2 See p. 209, below. 

3 ii. 300. The Crisis was a weekly Democratic paper published at Columbus, 
Ohio, by Samuel Medary (1801-1864), who had been territorial Governor of Min- 
nesota in 1857-1858 and of Kansas in 1859-1860. Many of the extracts from other 
papers quoted in the text were reprinted in the Crisis and have been obtained 
from that source. 

4 Crisis, October 22, ii. 312. 6 Ibid. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 209 

The Democrat who sent us that pair of butternut breeches is politely 
informed that we don't wear breeches; we have put on sackcloth. 1 

BUTTERNUT A FAST COLOR. 

That 's what a straight out Democrat said this morning. And, by the 
way, the color is striking in on some of those Democrats who have 
favored the Union movement. We begin to think butternut is a fast 
color, it is spreading fast just now, and Democrats who on Monday were 
Union men, are now claiming to be the original butternuts. 2 

In the Crisis of October 22 appeared the following: 

"Butternuts." 
The Ohio State Journal, true to its instincts, denominates the Demo- 
crats of Ohio in its election tables " Butternuts." We said all the time, 
that the election was white vs. black. White walnuts against black wal- 
nuts. The Journal now admits the race to have been one between the 
negroes and white men. 3 

The Commercial no Prophet. 
In the Cincinnati Commercial of the 14th, the morning of the election 
day, we have the following editorial: 

"The Way it Looks — It looks very much as if the Trinity of the Adoration 
(we borrow a phrase from the Hon. George H. Pendleton,) of the Copperheads 
of Ohio, Vallandigham, Pendleton and Cox, 4 would be obliterated by the election 
of this day . . ." 

Now, I would propose a slight amendment of the above, which, being 
adopted, might still save the reputation of the Commercial as a good 
judge of men, and wisely gifted in the sequence of events. Instead of 
calling these gentlemen "Copperheads to be elected and stay at home 
and sweat," that it read, three good Copper bottoms selected not to stay 
at home &c. 5 

The Dayton Empire of about this date asked: 

Does the Commercial remember anything about the Fourth of July 
Convention, of which it said Vallandigham and Medary were the "rul- 
ing spirits;" that Convention of "Butternuts," if you please, over which 

1 Crisis, October 22, ii. 312. 2 Ibid. 

' ii. 305. 

4 Clement Laird Vallandigham (1820-1871); George Hunt Pendleton (1825- 
1889); Samuel Sullivan Cox (1824-1889). 
6 Crisis, October 22, ii. 310. 



210 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [APBIL, 

Sam. Medary presided, and at which Vallandigham was the principal 
speaker ? l 

The following appeared in the Ashland (Ohio) Union late in 
October or early in November: 

Election Returns. 

The "secessionists" have carried Ohio by several thousand. 

The "Copperheads" have carried Pennsylvania by several thousand. 

The "Knights of the Golden Circle" have carried Indiana by several 
thousand. 

We use these epithets in order to make the Republicans blush, in the 
light of the election returns, for their infamous abuse of the ever-patri- 
otic and loyal Democracy. 2 

Under the heading "The Ohio State Journal Joining the 'Butter- 
nuts,'" the Crisis of November 5 remarked: "The following is about 
as severe a commentary on the heartless conduct of the authorities 
at Washington as anything we have seen in papers the Journal 
delights to call ' secesh.' Had it appeared in The Crisis, the Journal 
and such like papers would have cried out ' suppress the secesh sheet.' " 3 

The November elections caused the Copperheads much rejoicing. 
"This county," said a letter dated Majority Point, Sumpter Town- 
ship, Cumberland County, Illinois, November 6, "gives the Demo- 
crats 5000 majority. Greatest Democratic majority ever given in 
this county. This township gives 119 Democratic majority. Hurrah 
for the ' Butternuts.' " 4 The Holmes County Farmer thus described 
an entertainment at Millersburg, Ohio: 

Great Democratic Jubilee! — Little Holmes on a "Bender!" 
. . . But we have not touched upon the f antastics. — This was a pro- 
cession representing men and women, black and white, masked, with all 
kinds of odd clothing, on their way from Oberlin up Salt River. A big 
transparency was carried in front: "Oberlin Republicans." Then came 
a host of transparencies with the following mottoes: "For Salt River." 
"Poor Massa Welker." '"Damn de Butternuts." 6 



1 Crisis, October 29, ii. 315. The word Butternut does not appear to have 
been employed at the time the convention was held. 

2 Crisis, November 5, ii. 328. 

3 ii. 325. 

4 Crisis, November 12, ii. 332. 

5 Crisis, November 19, ii. 344. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 211 

Our next extract brings prominently upon the scene one who was 
not only the head and front of the Copperheads, but also the one to 
whom was largely due the later adoption of that name by the Copper- 
heads themselves, and from a speech by whom the hint was taken 
of a copperhead badge. This account is taken from the Dayton 
Empire: 

Ladies' Compliment to Mr. Vallandigham. 
A "Butternut" Party — Cane Presentation. 

At a handsome entertainment given on Friday evening, November 21, 
by Judge Morse, at his residence near Dayton, an elegant gold-headed 
cane, with a suitable inscription, was presented by the ladies to the Hon. 
Clement L. Vallandigham. . . . 

At the conclusion of the ceremonies the ladies and gentlemen partook 
of an elegant supper worthy of the host and accomplished hostess, and 
of the good old "Butternut" hospitality of former days. 1 

Reviewing the evidence thus far given, we see that, as applied 
to Democrats, Copperhead was used in September and Butternut 
in October, 1862; that both words were originally employed by 
the Republicans in contempt; that, doubtless largely owing to the 
success of the Democrats in the October and November elections, 
the word Butternut was more or less humorously adopted by the 
Democrats themselves; but that the use of the word Copperhead 
wasi still confined to the Republicans. Early in 1863 the word 
Copperhead, which until then had perhaps been confined to, or 
chiefly employed in, Illinois and Ohio, rapidly spread and soon 
became general. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune of January 6, 
1863, reads in part as follows: 

LITTLE FEAR OF THAT. 

The friends of the country, hence the enemies of the rebels and the 
rebellion, annoy us with an expression of their fears that the Illinois 
Legislature, now about organizing, containing, as everybody knows, a 
considerable majority of our political opponents, will attempt some law- 
less and violent revolutionary movement, having for its double object 
the destruction of the power and influence of the Federal Government 
in the State, and the nullification, if not the complete overthrow, of the 
authority of the State Administration. . . . We do not doubt, and have 
not for a long time doubted, that there are certain "copperheads," a 

1 Crisis, December 3, ii. 358. 



212 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

few of whom are in the assembling Legislature, whose venom is so ran- 
corous, whose scruples are so few, and whose sense is so little, that they 
will do anything or dare everything which promises them an oppor- 
tunity to wreak their vengeance on the policy that they hate and on 
those by whom that policy is to be carried out. . . . The knowledge 
that an outbreak in the North would bring upon those engaged therein 
an avalanche of troops, to whom a "copperhead" is only another name 
for a rebel, . . . will cause many a malignant who has treason and 
murder in his heart, to be content with impotent gnashing of the teeth 
and muttered curses that he dare not embody in deeds (p. 2/1). 

"But we have yet to see," said the same paper of January 7, "the 
'copperhead' journal that is not filled, day after day, with articles 
bitterly denunciatory of the President, his Cabinet, the Republican 
Party, the War Democrats and the Abolitionists, for their alleged 
violation of the 'Constitutional rights of the South'" (p. 2/2). 
Under the heading "New Jersey," the New York Tribune of January 
12 said that "The more malignant Copperheads of this State are 
calling upon their new Legislature to prohibit the immigration of 
slaves whom the war has converted or may convert into freemen" 
(p. 4/6). "For all we can learn," stated the Chicago Tribune of 
January 20, " Copperheadism takes an even more sneaking shape 
in Indiana than in this State" (p. 2/1). A cartoon in Harper's 
Weekly of January 31 represents Vallandigham, James Brooks, and 
John Van Buren before a door labelled "J DAVIS," and underneath 
are the words: 

RECEPTION OF THE COPPERHEADS AT RICHMOND. 

Copperhead Spokesman. "Be so good as to announce to Presi- 
dent Davis that a few of his Northern friends wish to see him. 

Pompey. "De President desire me to say dat you is mistaken, 
Gemmen. He have n't got no friends at de Norf ; and when he wants 
any, he won't choose 'em among de Peace Sneaks." l [Exeunt Copper- 
heads considerably abashed.] — (Vide Davis's Message.) 2 

The Cincinnati Daily Gazette of February 5 asserted that the 
rebels "hope for a co-operation from the 'copperheads' of Ohio, 
Indiana and Illinois, to whom, through the prostituted medium of 

1 On the word "sneak," see p. 236 note 1, below. 

2 Harper's Weekly, vii. 80. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 213 

the Legislature they always send their traitorous greetings" (p. 1/3); 
and, under the heading " What the Rebels Hope of Northern Copper- 
heads," said that "The Richmond Dispatch is much pleased with 
the election of the Copperhead Richardson l as United States 
Senator from Illinois" (p. 3/2). An editorial entitled "The Copper- 
head Conspiracy," and a news item headed "The Illinois Copper- 
head Legislature Rampant," appeared in the New York Tribune of 
February 14 (pp. 4/2, 5/3). In an editorial in the New York Times 
of February 13 entitled "The Western Copperheads — Duty of 
Loyal Men," the terms "Copperhead majority" and "Copperhead 
movements" were employed. This item appeared in the New York 
Herald of February 16: "Meeting of the Extremes. — The 
Tribune (abolition radical) thinks that Mr. Seward would have done 
well to accede to the peace conference with the rebels, and the World 
(democratic copperhead radical) is of the same opinion" (p. 4/6). 
The following interesting essay is taken from the Crisis of February 
25, 1863, reprinted from the Cincinnati Enquirer: 

Politics and Science — Butternuts and Democrats. 

It has been the custom of late, among a certain class of abolitionists, 
to call the Democrats by the name of "Butternuts." This nickname is 
likely to be of as much advantage to our party, as the epithet Quaker 
and Methodist has been to the once despised, but now influential, re- 
ligious bodies bearing these titles. There is something in the word, 
"Butternut," that is rather pleasing; and there is much in the historical 
associations connected with the White Walnut tree, of which Butternut 
is the synonym, to endear it to the backwoodsman. When the writer 
was a boy, this tree supplied the coloring matter for nearly all the fabrics 
worn as clothing by the western people. Imported dyes, like imported 
wearing apparel, were then equally unknown in the West. 

When the midnight war-cry of the Indian roused the mothers in Ohio 
from their slumbers, it was the brave "Butternut-clad sons of Ken- 
tucky" who rushed across to the rescue. "Butternut" was then no 
epithet of reproach in the West. 

This costume is still worn in the mountain ranges of Kentucky and 
Tennessee, and in Southern Illinois and Missouri. On the gathering 
together of the soldiers, at the outbreak of the war, the fresh recruits 
from these districts appeared in the ranks with garments of Butternut- 
colored cloth. In derision their "store-clothed" companions called them 

1 William Alexander Richardson (1811-1875). 



214 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

"Butternuts;" and, as they were mostly Democrats, from Democratic 
districts, the name, ere long, was applied, by the Republicans, to the 
whole Democratic party. 1 

But this Butternut costume was not limited to one side, it being com- 
mon to both rebels and loyal soldiers. The epithet was used with the 
greater zest by the Abolitionists, because the earlier rebel prisoners were 
dressed in " Butternut," and its application to the Democrats, they ex- 
pected would not only fasten upon them an opprobrious name, but 
convey the impression also that they were in sympathy with the rebels. 

So much for history. Let us now examine this term of reproach in the 
light of science. 

The White Walnut tree has the generic name in Botany of Juglans, 
or the Tree of Jove.* 

* Juglans (Lat. Jovis glans,) i.e., the Nut of Jove: a name given it by way of 
eminence. — Wood's Botany, page 640. 



1 The assertion that Northern soldiers were called "Butternuts" at the out- 
break of the war is of interest. Is it correct? Writing in 1853 Mrs. Stowe said: 
"I seem to have so much to fill my time, and yet there is my Maine story waiting. 
However, I am composing it every day, only I greatly need living studies for the 
filling in of my sketches." The "Maine story" was the Pearl of Orr's Island, 
"the first seventeen chapters of which," according to Mrs. Fields (Life and Letters 
of H. B. Stowe, pp. 168, 170, 285), "appeared in April of this year" — that is, 
1861. This is a slight mistake, since the first chapter was printed in the Inde- 
pendent of January 3 and the seventeenth in the issue of April 4, after which 
the story was not resumed until December 3, 1861. Hence the following words, 
which occur in the first chapter, were written certainly before 1861 and perhaps 
as early as 1853: "The old fishermen stood upon the wagon, his coarse butternut- 
colored coat-flaps fluttering and snapping in the breeze." This extract (quoted 
in the Oxford English Dictionary, but with date of year only) is the earliest 
known with reference to clothes. On March 22, 1862, "The butternut gentry," 
meaning Confederate prisoners, were mentioned (Bartlett's Dictionary of Ameri- 
canisms, 1877, p. 88). On June 11, 1862, a Confederate soldier was called an 
"ambitious butternut" (ibid.). After the battle of Antietam (September 17, 
1862) a story went the rounds to the following effect. A Maryland soldier named 
Joe Parsons was blinded by a shot, and, meeting a rebel soldier, this conversation 
took place: "'Who be yer,' said I, 'arebel?' 'You're a Yankee.' 'SoIam,'says 
I. . . . 'Well,' says I, 'you're a rebel; but will you do me a little favor ?' 'I will, 
says he, 'ef I can.' Then I says, 'Well, old butternut, I can't see nothin'. My 
eyes is knocked out, but I ken walk.'" Parsons then takes on his shoulders the 
"old butternut," who promptly directs him to the Confederate camp. (Crisis, 
December 31, 1862, ii. 391.) A letter dated Murfreesboro', Tennessee, January 
30, 1863, said: "The 'Butternut' coat and pants, and the unbleached cotton and 
woollen shirts have, even when new, a dirty, untidy appearance — especially 
when placed side by side with the deep and sky blue uniforms of our army" 
(Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February 5, 1863, p. 1/1). 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 215 

We thank our Abolition neighbors for this name. It indicates that 
the "Butternuts" are the heaven-ordained party, deriving their power 
and influence from Omnipotence. But not only is the tree significant 
of the near relation of the Democrats to the power that controls the fate 
of nations; the fruit is also emblematic of the innate sentiments and 
affections of the party. On removing the outer hull and sawing the nut 
into two parts, near the center, the most elaborate ornamentation is 
presented. The annexed stereotype cut is taken from the surface of a 
section of the nut itself, without alteration from its original structure. 
It exhibits the typical form of the species : 




[Cross-section of the Butternut, exhibiting its 
interior structure]. 

Look closely at the central area. It presents two hearts, united at the 
base, and may well justify the exclamation uttered when the discovery 
was made: 

" Two hearts — the Northern and Southern — united at the base, and 
bound together indissolubly only in the 'Butternuts!'" 

Again we thank the Abolitionists for bestowing this name upon us. 
"Old Hickory" was not more potent, as applied to General Jackson, 
than will be, in the future, the term "Butternuts," as applied to the 
Democratic party. Our tree designates us as the favorites of Heaven, 
while we are represented in its fruits as uniting the Northern and 
Southern hearts; and thus are we foreshadowed, in the "Butternut," 
as destined to restore the Union and the Constitution, as formed 
by the great hearts of the North and the South at the Revolution. 
This glorious work, now every-where prayed for by a suffering people 
— but impossible in the hands of those who are clamoring for the 
shedding of additional rivers of blood — can only be accomplished by 
the " Butternuts." 

Look also at the rampart surrounding the central area, and see how 
its jagged buttresses render it impenetrable to an assailing foe, and give 
perfect security to the united hearts intrenched within. So is it with 
the Democratic party. It has the rights of the people enshrined in its 



216 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

heart, and will resist the aggressions of every foe to constitutional free- 
dom, and present an impenetrable barrier against foreign assaults. 1 

Up to the middle of February — or nearly five months after its 
first appearance — the use of the word Copperhead seems to have 
been confined to the Republicans. But in a speech made at Newark, 
New Jersey, on February 14, Vallandigham said: 

There are those here who can testify to the iniquitous despotism of 
this administration. . . . They are here free as air — no bastiles con- 
fining them. New Jersey has spoken on these questions. The people 
of the Northwest I am not fearful of. There are others here from the 
Northwest, all "Butternuts," "Copperheads," like myself (cheers), 
who can speak of the public opinion of that section. 2 

Vallandigham's adherents were not slow in following his example. 
The Crisis of March 11 remarked: 

Political Names. 

The editor of the New York Express, who has had twenty-five years' 
experience of fighting the Democracy, says : 

THE COPPERHEADS. 

"If there be anything the Democrats can stand, without wincing or wilting, 
it is hard names: and what is curious, these hard names become the slogans of 
their party, and afterward intensely popular. . . . Now, the Abolitionists are 
christening the Democrats 'Copperheads,' and if they persist in it, we should 
not be at all surprised to find Copperhead a word as popular as Democracy, for 
whatever Abolitionism clings to or embraces it kills, and whatever it nicknames 
it makes a shibboleth in popularity of. We, old line Whigs, then, and Demo- 
crats, accept the name of 'Copperheads.' Consider us 'Copperheads.' Call us 
'Copperheads.'" 

Copperheads, then, let it be! It's a very expressive designation. 3 

A letter dated Glens Falls, New York, March 4, said that "The 
entire Democratic ticket for village officers was elected by an average 

1 Crisis, iii. 39. 

2 New York World, February 16, p. 2/1. Commenting on Vallandigham's 
speech, the New York Times of February 17 said: "Yet even this 'copperhead' 
traitor is compelled, by the force of public sentiment, to declare himself in favor 
of the Union" (p. 4/4). 

3 Crisis, iii. 55. James Brooks (1816-1873) was the editor of the New York 
Express. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 217 

majority of 40. 'Copperhead' stock is rising and ' Leatherhead ' 
falling." l In the Crisis of March 25 appeared the following: 

Resolutions of the Democratic Club at Zanesville. 

Whereas, Colonel Connel did say, at a meeting held in this city, at 
Oddfellows' Hall, on the 13th of March, that "such men as Vallandig- 
ham and Dr. Olds 2 should not be allowed to speak;" and 

Whereas, Major Muse did, at the same time and place, say that 
" Northern Traitors [an Abolition nick-name for Democrat, alias Butter- 
nut, alias Copperhead, alias Secesh, &c] ought to be hung up at their 
door-posts;" and 

Whereas Captain Geary did, at the same time and place, say that the 
" Butternuts deserved to be placed on the rack, and to have their eyes 
plucked out, their tongues cut out, and their finger-nails pinched off;" and 

Whereas, This was applauded by those sympathizing with this lan- 
guage; therefore, be it 

Resolved, by this meeting, that we hold up these men to the contempt 
of all peace-loving, law-abiding citizens. . . . 3 

In the New York World of March 18 (p. 4/3) appeared the fol- 
lowing : 

COPPERHEADS. 
The Times defines Copperheads thus: 

Every American, whatever his opinions about slavery, who is for maintaining 
the unity of the country at all costs, is literally and truly a loyal man. All others 
are Copperheads. 



1 Crisis, March 18, hi. 63. 

2 Dr. Edson Baldwin Olds (d. 1869), who late in 1862 had been placed in a 
"bastile." "To drag a man of seventy from his house at night without legal 
warrant, and take him summarily to Fort Lafayette, was a procedure likely to 
set to thinking voters who were bred to liberty, especially as in this case the 
victim was an intelligent man of high character, who had served his constituents 
three terms in the legislature and six years in Congress" (Rhodes, History of the 
United States, iv. 165). There is some doubt as to the exact age of Dr. Olds. 
According to several biographical dictionaries he was born in 1819. The Amer- 
ican Annual Cyclopaedia for 1869 stated that he died January 24 "at Lancaster, 
Ohio, aged about 66" (p. 496). His father, the Rev. Gamaliel Smith Olds, was 
born February 11, 1777 (Granville Vital Records, p. 61), graduated at Williams 
College in 1801 (General Catalogue of Williams College, 1910, p. 35), married Julia 
Whitney in 1812, and " had four children, three of whom died in infancy, and one 
in the prime of manhood" (C. Durfee, Williams Biographical Annals. 1871, pp. 
137-139). 

3 Crisis, March 25, iii. 65. 



218 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

If this definition is just, then the Times must admit that Greeley is 
the great " Copperhead." 

On March 19, a New York Senator said: "If there is any one on 
earth who will need the money, it is this class; and if the copper- 
heads don't run, and are drafted, I am willing they share in the 
bounty." x A speech made by the notorious Jim Lane at Washing- 
ton on March 28 was thus reported in part: 

There is an animal in this country that I despise much more than the 
traitor in arms. 

(A Voice. " The Copperhead ! ") 

No ! I mean the cowardly skulk, the dirty miserable puppy, who will 
remain in the loyal States receiving protection from them and yet strik- 
ing at the heart of the country. 2 

A letter dated Jackson, Ohio, April 7, stated that "The 'Butter- 
nuts' covered themselves with glory yesterday in this (Lick) town- 
ship with their 'usual ability.' . . . 'Butternuts' and 'Copper- 
heads' are far above par down in these hills." 3 A letter dated 
Palmer, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, April 7, said that "Our election 
in this township yesterday resulted in the entire success of the 
straight 'Butternut,' 'Copperhead,' Democracy." 4 Amid the 
deluge of abusive language indulged in by both sides, it is pleasant 
to find a lighter touch introduced into an article in Vanity Fair of 
May 2: 

THE ORIGINAL COPPERHEAD 

Although Copperheads, as a political sect, are of very recent date, 
readers of romance will recollect that the first Copperhead of whom we 
have any documentary evidence was the creation of Cervantes. When 
the doughty Knight Errant, Don Quixote, was hard up for a head- 
piece, his constructive mind suggested to him the possibility of adapting 
one out of a copper basin belonging to his barber. With this utensil 
strapped firmly on his head, he performed great feats of valor, . . . [The 
writer goes on to say that the Don was worsted in his fight against 

1 Remarks of Hon. Mr. [Lyman] Truman, of the 24th District, on the Bounty 
Re-Enlistment Bill, In the Senate [New York], March 19, 1863, p. 6. 

2 Crisis, April 1, iii. 80. James Henry Lane (1814-1866). 

3 Crisis, April 29, iii. 92. 
« Ibid. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 219 

"Wind-mill," who "battered his copper head."] ... It might be well 
for our Copperheads here to take warning from his great prototype. 1 

The Milwaukee News late in April or early in May printed this 
item: 

A Live Copperhead. — A regular live American eagle — the eagle of 
classic fame and the national emblem of liberty — has found its way to 
this city, and has been purchased by one of our prominent citizens, for 
presentation to the Milwaukee Democratic Club. The head of the 
bird is a shining copper color, and he measures eight feet from tip to 
tip. 2 

The Crisis of May 13 stated that "When this immense crowd of 
'Butternuts' came together" at Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, 
"to hear the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, the purpose for which they 
had left their fields at this busy season of the year, it was estimated 
at from eight to ten thousand people." 3 On July 3 an " inflamma- 
tory placard," signed "One of the People" and dated June 30, was 
posted about New York city and " hung up in conspicuous positions 
in some of the hotels:" 

Attention! Major-General Halleck: . . . P.S. If you had 
hung Vallandigham (as you ought to have done) and sent him to be 
Governor of the copperheads in the infernal regions, you would not have 
been troubled by the traitorous, cowardly, miserable sneaks and pol- 
troons, who are boring about him. 4 

This section may well end with an extract from the Crisis of 
November 18: 

WHAT IS A COPPERHEAD? 

The Hon. Levi Bishop, of Detroit, recently gave the following plump 
answer to this question: 

We often hear it said of Democrats, "He's a Copperhead, he's a 
bitter Copperhead, shun him, cut him, don't countenance him, don't 
give him business, ruin him, crush him, for he's an inveterate Copper- 
head." Well, what is a Copperhead? Our opponents are very fond of 



1 Vanity Fair, vii. 37. 

1 Crisis, May 6, iii. 120. 

» iii. 127. 

4 In F. Moore, Rebellion Record (1864), vii, Poetry and Incidents, pp. 85-86. 



220 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

coining names which they imagine to be severe or opprobrious. . . . 
The term "Copperhead" is one of their choicest epithets. 1 

II 

BUTTEKNUT AND COPPERHEAD BADGES 

Though the etymology of Yankee has never been determined, it 
is well known that the word was for about twenty years before the 
outbreak of the Revolution applied in derision to the American 
colonists. After the battle of Lexington, the Americans adopted it 
themselves, and, in order to prove that the word was in reality one 
of distinction, some imaginative person invented a tribe of Indians 
named "Yankos," who were at last subdued by the New Eng- 
enders, and so, "agreeable to the Indian custom," had their name 
transferred to their conquerors. 2 Thus the pleasing conclusion was 
reached that Yankos, corrupted into Yankee, meant "invincible;" 
and by this easy method, what had hitherto been a derisive epithet 
became a complimentary one. Similarly, the Copperheads, having 
adopted that term, felt impelled to seek a more honorable origin for 
their nickname than a snake. 

The Butternuts and Copperheads had been so called for nearly 
six months before there is any trace of their wearing a badge. But 
in March, 1863, both butternuts and copperheads were worn as 
badges. Quite possibly the use of a butternut as an emblem had 
begun before this in Ohio, but the earliest allusion I have found is 
the following: 

MASS MEETING OF THE DEMOCRACY IN HAMILTON, 
BUTLER COUNTY. 

An Immense Assemblage of the People! 

. . . The Democratic mass meeting in Hamilton, Butler county, on 
Saturday, March 23, was an immense ovation, the people, male and 
female, attending from all parts of the State, . . . the meeting re- 
minded us of the log-cabin demonstrations of 1840, when national en- 
signs, flags and banners flaunted to the breeze with Buckeyes attached, 



1 Crisis, iii. 338. 

2 This story, which went the rounds of the American newspapers, first 
appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal of May 24, 1775. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 221 

the difference being the substitution of Butternuts instead of the 
Buckeye. 1 

As for the copperhead badge, its invention was presumably sug- 
gested by a passage in a speech made by Vallandigham in New York 
city on March 7 : 

We hear much about state rights. Here is a piece of coin from the 
mint of the sovereign State of Connecticut, coined by her, thus exercis- 
ing the highest power of the Constitution, and bearing date 1778. 2 
When the confederation was dissolved that state reverted back again 
to sovereignty and coined money. I don't think it ever coined any 
greenbacks. (Laughter.) They were a later invention. It is a copper 
coin, with a copperhead 3 upon it. (Applause. Three cheers for the 



1 Crisis, April 1, iii. 74. 

* Doubtless a misprint for 1787. In another report of this speech, Vallan- 
digham is made to say: 

"There, sir, is a piece of coin from the mint of the sovereign State of Connect- 
icut, coined by her, in the exercise of a high power of sovereignty, and bearing 
date 1787. Yes, the Confederation was dissolved, and that State went back 
again to its sovereignty and coined money. I believe it never issued any 'green- 
backs;' they were of a later invention. But here is the evidence of that great 
fact, which designing men, consolidating empire here at the price of liberty, are 
desirous continually to ignore. It is a copper coin with a copper head upon it. 
(Great laughter and cheers for the Copperheads.) It is the head of Liberty. 
(Renewed applause.) It bears the superscription and image of Freedom. It 
reads, 'By the authority of the State of Connecticut'" (Crisis, March 25, iii. 66). 

Vallandigham appears to have been fond of making unusual exhibits. In a 
speech delivered in Congress on February 3, 1862, he said: 

"Here, Sir, is one of the Continental bills of November, 1776. It bears small 
resemblance to the delicate paper issues and exquisite engravings of the present 
day in the United States. It smacks a little of the poverty of 'Dixie' — as is 
said. Instead of the effigy of Lincoln, it bears on its face a veritable but rudely 
carved woodcut of the wild boar of the forest. It was bad money, Sir, but issued 
in a noble cause. It is redolent of liberty; it smells of habeas corpus, free speech, 
a free press, free ballot, the right of petition, the consent of the governed, public 
indictment, speedy public trial by jury, and all the great rights of political and 
individual liberty for which martyrs have died and heroes contended for ages — 
although I am not quite sure, Sir, that even now it is altogether without some- 
what of the odor of rebellion lingering about it" (in Life, 1872, p. 178). 

3 In the supplement to the 1911 edition of the Century Dictionary is the 
definition: "4. A private token, equal to one cent, struck in the United States 
during, the Civil War." In his Dictionary of Numismatic Names, their Official 
and Popular Designations, Albert R. Frey says: "Copperheads. A name com- 
monly applied to the tokens issued during the Civil War in the United States 



222 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [APRIL, 

copperheads.) But it is a head of liberty. (Applause.) It has the super- 
scription and the image of freedom. It says: "By the authority of the 
State of Connecticut." That was its warrant for circulation. 1 



(1862-1865). In the latter part of the year 1862 the first of these copper tokens 
were issued in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other western cities. Many of them have on 
the obverse the Indian head copied from the United States cent, and this feature 
probably gave them their name " (p. 54, American Journal of Numismatics, 1917, 
1. 54. For this reference I am indebted to Mr. Horace L. Wheeler of the Boston 
Public Library). No example of copperhead in this sense has been adduced. 
The word was perhaps applied to any copper coin with a head on it: see the ex- 
tract dated April 15, p. 224, below. Thus a letter dated Washington, April 28, 
1863, quoted in the Chicago Tribune of May 1, said: 

COPPERHEADS. 

The heavy coinage of "nickels" still continues, the number last week made 
at the mint in Philadelphia being 53,000. When the people who are hoarding 
them discover that they have no intrinsic value over thirty-seven or forty cents a 
pound, and that they are a legal tender for amounts less than fifty cents only, 
they will let the coppers loose in such loads as to make them a nuisance (p. 2/3). 

By "nickels" are meant one-cent coins made of copper-nickel, first coined (of 
that material) with head in 1858. What we now commonly call " nickels " — that 
is, five-cent coins made of copper-nickel — were first coined in 1866. Perhaps, 
therefore, the name " copperhead," applied to a coin with a head on it, was derived 
from Vallandigham's speech of March 7, 1863. 

Attention should also be called to the fact that the word Copperhead had been 
used in other senses before the Civil War. Speaking of the Indian, De Vere says: 
"Along the frontier line he was perhaps as frequently called a Copperhead [as a 
Redskin], an ancient term of contempt, of which W. Irving makes frequent use 
in his quaint History of New York" (Americanisms, 1872, p. 22); and proceeds 
to quote two extracts. In both instances, however, Irving applies the term not 
to Indians but to the Dutch; moreover, Irving apparently uses the term only 
twice, and the second instance was not introduced into his famous burlesque until 
nearly forty years after its original publication. In the edition of 1809 we read: 

"Then might be seen on their right hand, the vassals of that renowned Myn- 
heer, Michael Paw, ... He brought to the camp a stout band of warriors, . . . 
These were the men who vegetated in the mud along the shores of Pavonia; 
being of the race of genuine copperheads, and were fabled to have sprung from 
oysters" (bk. vi. ch. iv. vol. ii. pp. 104-105). 

In the edition of 1848 occurs, apparently for the first time, this passage, refer- 
ring to the Dutch and the Yankees: 

"Already, however, the races regarded each other with disparaging eye. The 
Yankees sneeringly spoke of the round-crowned burghers of the Manhattoes 
as the 'Copperheads;' while the latter, glorying in their own nether rotundity, 
and observing the slack galligaskins of their rivals, flapping like an empty sail 



1 New York World, March 9, p. 2/5. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 223 

To some enthusiastic devotee, doubtless acting on the above hint, 
occurred the idea of cutting out the head of Liberty from a copper 
coin and attaching a pin to it. But this process was naturally labo- 
rious, and the next step was the manufacture of Copperhead badges 
in large quantities. The following advertisement was printed in the 
New York World of March 26: 

QOPPERHEADS, ATTENTION! 

THE COPPERHEAD, or BADGE OF LIBERTY. NOW 
READY. " Copperhead ! " is it? Let every White Man accept " the in- 
sult," and wear the grand old emblem of Liberty — the Copperhead! 
Mailed, post paid, on receipt of 15 cents, or $10 per hundred by ex- 
press. All orders out of the city should be addressed at once to the 
manufacturers, 

BROMLEY & CO., 

Box 4265 New-York City. 

(fr^B. & Co. are allowed to refer to the editors of the New-York Cau- 
casian. All city orders should be left with P. J. Coyans, wholesale agent, 
No. 122 NASSAU Street, where they are now ready for delivery to 
city customers. 1 

against the mast, retorted upon them with the opprobrious appellation of 'Plat- 
ter-breeches'" (bk. vii. ch. i. p. 385). 

It is hardly necessary to add that both terms were invented by Irving. In 
1828 J. K. Paulding, referring to the dwellers on the western border of Tappan 
See, settled by the Dutch, wrote: "Since the period of the first settlement of this 
region, the only changes that have ever been known to take place, are those 
brought about by death, who if report says true has sometimes had his match 
with some of these tough old copperheads; . . ." (The New Mirror for Travellers, 
p. 102, quoted in Thornton's American Glossary, i. 205). The Oregon Weekly 
Times of October 10, 1857, said that "Dan had a hatred of 'copper heads,' as he 
called the Indians, which was refreshingly orthodox " (also quoted by Thornton). 

1 P. 5/6. This advertisement, with the exception of the final sentence, was 
also printed in the Crisis of April 1, iii. 77. Bromley & Co., however, were not 
the only manufacturers of the badges. In the New York World of March 27 
(p. 5/2) another firm advertised: 

COPPERHEADS! 
/COPPERHEADS, attention! 
*-* THE COPPERHEAD, or BADGE OF LIBERTY. NOW READY. 

Let all White Men accept the insult, and wear the grand old emblem of Liberty. 
The Copperhead Mailed, post paid, on receipt of 15 cents, or $10 per hundred by 
express. All orders out of the city should be addressed at once to the original 
manufacturers, 

A. C. BLONDIN & CO., 

New-York City Postoffice. 



224 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

The Crisis of April 1 stated that Vallandigham was presented 
with "a box, inside of which was a string of handsomely polished 
butternuts interwoven by evergreen and red, white and blue rib- 
bons;" 1 and on its own behalf it acknowledged the receipt from 
a correspondent in Mifflin township of " a powder keg full of butter- 
nuts." 2 In the same issue appeared the following: 

(fc^The Bridgeport Farmer says they are going to make Copperheads 
in Waterbury. — New Haven Paper. 

By "Copperheads," politicians must not be understood, but a sort of 
copper badge, representing the head of Washington for example. No 
doubt they will be in demand. — Journal of Commerce. 

These Copperhead breastpins now sell rapidly for a quarter, but cost- 
ing only three or four cents. The Democratic party unanimously is 
adopting the "fashion." 3 

In the same paper of April 15 we read: 
"Copperheads." 

As the Abolitionists gave the Democrats the name of " Copperheads " 
for a mere, as they supposed, political effect, and to throw a stigma upon 
opponents, it does not appear that they are making much out of it. 

Copperheads have become objects of great value — emblems of 
liberty — historic — classic — patriotic. The attempt to cast odium on 
the Democrats is in this, like all other attempts of the kind, a complete 
failure. 

At a sale lately in New York of a large collection of old coins, em- 
blems of our patriotic fathers, the "Copperheads" created the greatest 

This aroused the ire of Bromley & Co., who inserted another advertisement in 
the World of March 31 (p. 5/2): 

POLITICAL. 

COPPERHEADS, ATTENTION. — THE UN-dersigned are the original 
and sole manufacturers of the true COPPERHEAD BADGE OF LIB- 
ERTY, worn by the great Copperhead Party of the United States. Sold at 
fifteen cents by the single badge, and mailed, or $10 per one hundred sent by 
express. Terms cash. We are permitted to refer to the editors of the New- York 
Caucasian. Beware of imposters who copy our advertisements. When you order, 
write plainly your postoffice address, town, county, and state, and be very par- 
ticular to address your letters thus: 

BROMLEY & CO., Manufacturers, 
Box 4265, New- York City. 
1 Crisis, iii. 74. 2 iii. 76 3 iii. 79 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 225 

interest. We extract from a description of the sale, that part which 
relates to copper cents and half cents: . . . 

That will do for "copperheads." A person just from Philadelphia 
says that the young men of that city are giving as high as ten dollars 
a piece for these old copper coins, which they have made into breast 
pins, preserving the Head of Liberty in full view on the pin. Try 
again, black snakes, 1 and see if you cannot get something to suit your- 
selves if not us. These "copperheads" of Liberty are the true em- 
blems of the spirit and principles of our noble fathers and the natural 
enemies of the "Loyalists" of that day, as they are of this. "Copper- 
heads" and "Loyalists" are the old terms, and exactly applicable to 
the present times and designations of parties. 2 

A letter dated Brimfield, Ohio, April 7, said: 

Yesterday the election went off finely in this Copperhead town — 
120 Copperhead votes to 69 l/nion-Republican or Abolition votes. 
The small boys here are making Copper-heads by taking old copper 
cents and cutting away all but the head, which leaves a copper head with 
the word Liberty stamped upon the forehead. A very good representa- 
tion of the Democratic party.' 

On April 29 the Crisis acknowledged, "from a young Democrat 
of Connecticut, the receipt of a copperhead emblem of Liberty, 
nicely cut from an old cent. It is cut out very neatly." 4 In a New 
York magazine appeared these definitions of political terms: 

Copperhead, Mulatto and Greenback Democrats. 

There are now three kinds of democrats, according to the newspapers : 

1st. The Copperheads — the original, simon pure kind — who are 
so called from the copper head of liberty on the old cent of the United 
States, which they have adopted as a fitting badge of their principles. 

2d. Mulatto democrats, so called from the fact that they are a faded 
type of black republicans. 

3d. Greenback democrats, a set of political camp-followers, who 
follow Lincoln for whatever spoils he may, from time to time, throw down 
to them. 5 

A correspondent who signed himself G. Fritz thus complained in 
the Crisis of May 6: 



1 See pp. 230-235, below. * Crisis, iii. 89. 

3 iii. 93. « iii. 108. 

« Old Guard, i. 93. 



226 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

t 

On the 24th of April I was maliciously robbed of a butternut by one 
of the black Abolition clerks in Randall & Aston's Book Store. . . . 
This butternut I carried for the good old principles which it represented 
— union of hearts. And since we love the good old Union as our fathers 
made it, and as the butternut represents that Union, we, as Democrats, 
both high and low; rich and poor, are not ashamed to bear it on our 
persons; because those who wear it desire the South united with the 
North, and not inhumanly whipped out of the Union, as this Abolition 
Administration has endeavored to do from the beginning. And I there- 
fore call this dastardly, impudent puppy of a clerk in the above named 
book store a follower of tyranny and disunion. 1 

On May 1 occurred at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the meeting at which 
Vallandigham made the speech which caused his arrest. The Crisis 
of May 20 thus reported the meeting in part: 

AN EXTRAORDINARY MASS MEETING 

OF THE 

DEMOCRACY OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO, 

at 

Mt. Vernon on the 1st inst. 

From 15,000 to 20,000 Present! 

The People Demanding their Liberties ! 

Mt. Vernon, Ohio, May 2, 1863. 
To the Editor of The Crisis: 

The Democracy of this county held a great Convention here yester- 
day, . . . Between ten and eleven o'clock, the long township proces- 
sions began to make their appearance. These were formed of wagons, 
carriages, buggies, &c, ... A pleasing feature of each procession, was 
the very many elegant flags on hickory poles — such as the Democracy 
have always carried — the beautiful and glorious " Stars and Stripes," 
without the obliteration or obscuration of a single star. — A rather 
novel and amusing, as well as significant and appropriate feature of 
each procession, was the profusion of Butternuts, in wholes and in sections, 
attached in a great variety of ways to the dresses of the men and ladies, 
and of the boys and girls, to the horses and the banners. The " Copper- 
head," or Liberty Pins, were another noticeable emblem in the procession. 
Strange to say, the wearers of these things seemed wholly unconscious 
of treason (as defined in the Constitution) in thus exhibiting them. 2 



1 Crisis, iii. 117. 

3 iii. 134. Another contemporary account says: "A remarkably large number 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 227 

At the court-martial of Vallandigham on May 6, the following 
questions were asked and answered: 

Question by J. A. — What other flags or emblems were used in dec- 
orating the stage? 

Ans. — There were banners made of frame work, and covered with 
canvas, which were decorated with butternuts and bore inscriptions. 
One banner, which was carried at the head of a delegation which came 
in from a town in the country, bore the inscription, "The copperheads 
are coming." 

Mr. Vallandigham. — The South never carried copper cents. 

Judge Advocate. — But butternuts are a Southern emblem. 

Mr. Vallandigham sb,ook his head, and said they were not. 

Quest, by J. A. — Did you see any persons have emblems on their 
persons? 

Ans. — Yes, I saw hundreds of persons wearing butternut and copper- 
head badges. 

Mr. Vallandigham. — The copper badges were simply the head cut 
out of the common cent coins, with pins attached. 

Mr. Vallandigham. — Did you notice what inscription those copper- 
head badges bore? 

Ans. — No, I did not look at them. 

Mr. Vallandigham. — The inscription on them was " Liberty." x 

Ques. — Did not one of the banners you refer to as decorated with 
butternuts, bear the inscription, "The Constitution as it is and the 
Union as it was?" 

Ans. — The banners were numerous. One of them, I believe, did 
bear that inscription. 2 



of national flags, with all the stars of the Union as it was, on hickory poles, 
formed a very prominent feature in each of these processions. A profusion of 
butternuts and liberty or copperhead pins, Union badges, and other appropriate 
emblems of Liberty and Union, were also distinguishable features" (in J. L. 
Vallandigham's Life of Clement L. Vallandigham, 1872, p. 251). 

1 Crisis, May 27, iii. 124. A full report of the trial is printed in Vallandig- 
ham's Life, pp. 262-284. 

1 Crisis, iii. 125. In a speech made at Columbus on July 4, 1862, Vallandig- 
ham said: "To-day the cause of a free government has triumphed; a victory of 
the Constitution, a victory of the Union, has been won, but is yet to be made 
complete by the men who go forth from this the first political battle-field of the 
campaign, bearing upon their banners that noble legend, that grand inscription 
— The Constitution as it is, and the Union as it was" (Crisis, July 16, 1862, 
ii. 194; Life, pp. 209-210). 



228 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

A cartoon in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of May 23 
represents a storekeeper giving a customer a blow in the face, and 
underneath is the inscription: 

WINNING AND WEARING. 

Doubtful Citizen — Sir, do you sell Copperhead Badges? I want one. 
Patriotic Storekeeper — This is the only badge you Copperheads 
deserve. (Doubtful Citizen wears it for some days.) l 

This section may appropriately end with an account, taken from 
the Mt. Vernon Banner, of a — 

Disturbance in Brownsville. 

We had intended to make no reference to the late disturbance in 
Brownsville, this county, inasmuch as the matter will probably be 
brought into Court; . . . the facts ... are simply as follows: It ap- 
pears that some Democratic boys who were in the village, wore on their 
coat "butternut" badges, (two hearts united in one, emblematic of the 
re-union of the North and the South under Democratic rule) were as- 
sailed by Abolitionists, who were manly enough to attack boys, but too 
cowardly to go to war. . . . Miles Deakins, Esq., soon appeared in the 
crowd . . . ordered the people to disperse, and took the Democratic 
boys away. The Abolitionists, who were bent upon a muss, instead of 
obeying the orders of the Justice, commenced abusing him in the most 
scandalous manner, calling him a "butternut," "secessionist," a 
"Knight of the Golden Circle," &c. 2 

Two contemporary representations of the cop .^head badge are 
here reproduced. One, facing this page, is a c* on ffoBh Charles 
Godfrey Leland's Ye Book of Copperheads, pi ; Ay Lr/awn in or 
about May, 1863; 3 the other, on page 229, is an advertisement on 
the fourth page of the cover of "Copperhead Minstrel: A Choice 
Collection of Democratic Poems and Songs, for the use of Political 
Clubs and the Social Circle," published late in 1863 at New York. 4 



* xv. 144. 

8 Crisis, May 27, iii. 143. The Old Guard for June satirically remarked: "It 
is said that the Loyal Leagues are issuing a splendid new badge, it being a negro's 
head in India rubber, with this appropriate motto in silver letters: 'The Con~ 
stitution be damned!'" (i. 143). 

8 See p. 236, below. 

4 From a copy in the Boston Public Library. A fourth edition of Copperhead 
Minstrel was published in 1867, but without the badge on the cover. A pamphlet 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 229 



COPPERHEADS, ATTENTION! 



The undersigned are the original manufacturers of the GENUINE 



BADGE OP UBERTY, 

Made of PUBE COPPER. Highly PoUaked aad Artiatfo. 



Every person in favor of Free Speech, a Free Press, end the Right* of 
White Men, is wearing the Badge of Liberty. 

P*icb.— Single Badges, 15 cents; 8 Badges, for $1 post paid ; per 
express $80 per 1000. 

We are permitted to refer to the Editors of the New York Caucasian 
and the Editor of the h Freeman's Journal," New York City. 

,J Copperheads !" keep " the ball rolling on." Write " plainly " your 
post-office address, County and State. Direct your letters thus : 

BROMLEY & CO. 

Box 4265 New- York City. 

Wholesale Agents : 

FEEKS & BANCKER. No. 24 Aim. Street. 

COVER OF COPPERHEAD MINSTREL. 1863 



230 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Apbil, 

III 

Copperhead Snakes and Black Snakes 

It is obvious that a badge which was not invented until March, 
1863, could have had nothing to do with the origin of a word which 
had been in use since the previous September at least. Hence we 
must look elsewhere for the origin of Copperhead. That the name 
was derived from the copperhead snake may be inferred from the 
fact that it was a term of opprobrium and for five months was em- 
ployed only by the Republicans. But we are not left to conjecture 
on this point. Elated by the results of the fall elections, some of the 
Democratic papers came out with a rooster on the front page. The 
Crisis did not follow this good old custom, but on October 22, 1862, 
its editor acknowledged the receipt "by Express" from certain ad- 
mirers "of three splendid WHITE ROOSTERS, full of craw and 
full of pluck! " * That the name Copperhead was derived from 
the snake is proved by the unimpeachable evidence furnished by 
a Copperhead paper. The Crisis of November 19, 1862, contained 
this extract: 

(fc^The Logan (0.) Gazette gets off some excellent hits. In a late num- 
ber is a cut of a pole with a copperhead snake wound round it, and un- 
derneath is the following: 

Question. 
Copperhead! Copperhead! Where are you going? 

Answer. 
I 'm climbing this pole to see the cocks crowing. 

Question. 
Copperhead! Copperhead! what do you see? 

Answer. 
Butternuts! Butternuts! thick as can be! 2 



entitled The Copperhead Catechism was published in New York in 1864. Between 
the words Copperhead and Catechism is a cut of the head of Liberty with a snake 
wound round its neck and pointing its fangs into the face of Liberty. 

1 Crisis, ii. 308. A letter in the same issue is headed: "THE ELECTIONS! 
. . . Crow, Chapman, Crow! [Here was a great Shanghai rooster elegantly drawn 
in pencil]" (ii. 305). 

2 ii. 344. The Logan Gazette, or (as it was sometimes called) the Logan 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 231 

It is not a little curious that the many extracts before me from 
Republican papers make no mention of the snake until Vallandigham 
in his speech of February 14, 1863, gave rise to the adoption of the 
name by the Copperheads themselves. After that, there is indeed no 
lack of references to the copperhead snake, and in retaliation the 
Copperheads, in obvious allusion to the term Black Republican, 1 
dubbed their opponents Black Snakes. This extract is from the New- 
York Tribune of February 16, 1863: 

COPPERHEADS. 

The Express 2 accepts and rejoices in the name "Copperhead," and 
desires that it may be applied to the entire Democratic Pro-Slavery 
party. It is apt. The Copperhead is described by naturalists as "an 
American venomous serpent, the most dangerous after the rattle- 
snake." This is perfectly true, in letter and spirit; the rattlesnake 
represents South Carolina — see the first Palmetto flag; the Copper- 
head represents your Northern traitor. The rattlesnake, with all its 
venom, has one virtue — it never strikes without warning; that in- 
evitable rattle gives you timely notice of danger; but the Copperhead 
gives no sign of attack — it is in verity a snake in the grass. South 
Carolina gave long warning of her purpose to strike — she shook her 
rattles and bared her fangs for years before she made the spring at 
Sumter. Your Copperhead is no such chivalrous foe; for he hides in 
the grass, silent and treacherous, springs upon you unawares — no 
rattle, no hiss, but a lurking watchfulness and a leap at your throat, 
that might, for its perfect surprise if not its success, excite envy in the 
breast of an Indian Thug. . . . There is remarkable fitness in the 
name — let the traitors be called "Copperheads" (p. 4/5-6). 



County Gazette, was established at Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, in 1830; 
in 1870 its name was changed to the Examiner, and it is still published under 
that name: see History of Logan County, 1880, p. 283. For information about 
it I am indebted to our associate Mr. Clarence S. Brigham and to Professor 
Arthur W. Hodgman of the Ohio State University. 

1 Webster's International Dictionary states that the term Black Republican 
was "first applied in Civil War times;" but Thornton (American Glossary, i. 
67-68) gives fourteen extracts ranging from January 3, 1856, to March 10, 1861. 
The expressions "Black Republican party," " Black Republican chivalry," and 
"ranting Black Republicans," occur in the Democratic Review for January, 1856 
(xxxvii. 25, 26). 

2 This is probably a reference to an extract from the New York Express al- 
ready quoted from the Crisis of March 11: see p. 216, above. 



■/ 



232 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Apbil, 

The following editorial appeared in Harper's Weekly of February 
28, 1863: 

COPPERHEADISM. 

Mr. Clement Vallandigham, member of Congress from Ohio, 
made a speech last week in which he avowed himself a " Copperhead." x 
Certain editors nearer home have likewise rejoiced in the title. It 
becomes interesting to inquire what it means, and how it came to be 
applied to a class of politicians. 

A "copperhead," according to the American Cyclopedia, is "a ven- 
omous serpent . . . the head is thick . . . the neck contracted, and 
its scales smooth; there are no rattles, the tail being short . . . near 
the flanks are rounded dark blotches ... it prefers dark and moist 
places ... It gives no warning of its proximity . . . feeds on mice, 
small birds, etc., and seldom attacks man ... it is slow and clumsy 
in its motions, and a very slight blow suffices to kill it ... It is also 
called 'chunk-head/ and 'deaf -adder.'" 

It can not be denied that the analogy between this loathsome creature 
and the mean, sneaking politicians who are now distracting the North- 
ern mind with cries of peace is quite striking. Like the copperhead, the 
peace party are "venomous" in their attacks on the nation; like it, 
their "head" is undoubtedly "thick;" like it, their "neck" and reach 
are "contracted." Their "scales," too, are "smooth;" and they have 
no rattles to warn the honest traveler of their insidious approach. Like 
the copperhead, their character is "stained by dark blotches;" and, 
like it, they " prefer dark places " to the light of day. Like that sneak- 
ing reptile, their prey is "small, feeble creatures;" and they "seldom ven- 
ture to attack a man." If we add that our political Copperheads, like 
their reptile type, are so "slow and clumsy in their motions" that they 
deserve the additional cognomina of "Chunk-heads" and "Deaf- 
adders," and that "a very slight blow" makes an end of them, we shall 
have made the analogy complete. It is creditable to the discernment of 
our Western fellow-citizens that they so quickly realized the resemblance 
between the copperhead snake and the peace politician, and baptized 
them by one common appellation. 

We shall not waste time in arguing with the copperheads. Men 
who are capable of justifying the rebels and espousing their cause 
when the blood of some member of almost every Northern family 
reddens Southern soil, and the bones of Northern soldiers are 
worn as ornaments by Southern women, are not likely to be con- 

1 Seep. 216, above. 




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1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 233 

vinced by argument, or to be pervious to any thing short of a bayonet 
thrust. 

But one suggestion we will make. If Mr. Vallandigham, or any of 
his fellow-copperheads, will visit any large camp of loyal troops, either 
in the East or in the West or in the South, and will, in presence of the 
soldiers, express the sentiments they have uttered at Newark, New York, 
and elsewhere; and if, without the protection of the generals and pro- 
vost-marshals, whom they so heartily abuse, they succeed, after de- 
livering their speech, in making their escape alive, and without a coat 
of tar and feathers, we shall agree that Copperheads may fairly be toler- 
ated. Our soldiers are anxious to have the challenge accepted. 1 

A letter dated Chittenango, Madison County, New York, March 
4, printed in the Albany Argus and Atlas of March 6, is headed: 
"'Copperhead' Victory in Sullivan! 'Black Snakes' Cleaned 
Out." 2 These items were printed in the Crisis of March 18 and 
April 1 : 

About Snakes. 

A Democrat said the other day to a Republican: "If it has come to 
snakes, I would rather be a copperhead than a black snake." 
So much for the snake question. 3 

From Portage County, Ohio. 
(Extract of a Letter.) 

Gov. Medary — Dear Sir: . . . The Abolition Black-snakes are 
now using every effort to obtain subscribers to a new ism that Greeley 
has put forth, which they denominate the "Loyal National League." 
. . . The Black-snake editors appear to be urging their followers up 
to " blood letting" among us. We are dubbed Copperheads and Traitors, 
and the same hatred of Democrats is instigated as has for many years 
been instigated against Southern men and their institutions. 4 

A letter from Wood Grove, Morgan County, Ohio, April 7, said: 
" I tell you that we just completely skunked the Black Snakes — 
they did not even get a supervisor elected;" and ended: "Give the 
Black Serpents thunder." 6 A letter from Brimfield, Ohio, April 7, 
stated that "We held our annual election on Monday, and elected 



1 Harper's Weekly, vii. 130. ' * Crisis, March 18, iii. 6! 

3 Crisis, March 18, iii. 61. * Crisis, April 1, iii. 77. 

6 Crisis, April 15, iii. 92-93. 



234 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

our Copperhead ticket clean through, whipping the Blacksnake 
ticket by some 52 majority." 1 A correspondent writing of the 
election from Linnville, Ohio, April 7, said: "We do not feel like 
doing without your Copperhead paper, as it is termed by the (dis)- 
Union party. . . . One hundred and thirty-three Copperheads 
formed in line of battle. But to our great disappointment not one 
Black Snake appeared against us." 2 A letter from Milton town- 
ship, Jackson County, Ohio, April 9, declared that "The 'Copper- 
heads' wiped out the Black Snakes (or Black Republicans) on Mon- 
day last. . . . The following are the names of the men elected, all 
regular built ' Copperheads.' " 3 " In the days of ' Bleeding Kansas,' " 
remarked the Darke County (Ohio) Democrat, "the Black Snakes 
were the champions of 'Free Speech.'" 4 The Crisis of April 22 
contained this passage: 

The Viper Stinging Itself. 

When we see Abolitionists raging and foaming about Democrats 
wearing butternut emblems of "two hearts united in one," and copper- 
heads of "Liberty," we are reminded of the viper in the circle of fire 
stinging itself to death. 

Who applied the "butternut" and "copperhead" designation to the 
Democrats? Not the Democrats themselves, most assuredly. It was 
these black (make) Republicans, and the Democrats, instead of getting 
mad at the intended blackguard terms, took it in good humor by turn- 
ing it off as a joke, and then the black snakes got "all fired riley" at 
their own villainous acts! That's the true story. 5 

In the same paper of April 29 was this paragraph: 

Our New Names. — The name " Butternut," applied to Democrats 
is the reverse of any offensive appellation. The butternut, when cut 
into two parts, near the centre, presents a perfect picture of two hearts, 
united at the base — typical of the North and South united together, 
under the rule of the Butternut Democracy. As to Copperheads, that 
reptile is inoffensive except when trod on, or in the month of August. 
In either case it is dangerous. 6 



1 Crisis, April 15, iii. 93. 2 Crisis, April 29, iii. 110. 

3 Crisis, April 15, iii. 92. 4 iii. 95. 

5 Crisis, April 22, iii. 101. 6 Crisis, April 29, iii. 110. 



1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 235 

In the Old Guard for April is a description of a "Great Lincoln 
Picture Gallery," No. 21 being "A copperhead chasing a huge black 
snake, which is running away with affrighted velocity;" 1 and in 
the same number is this item: "Copperheads and Black Snakes. 
The republicans call democrats * copperheads' — the democrats re- 
tort by calling republicans 'black snakes.' If the snake family ever 
get to fighting, save us from the fate of the black snakes, say we." 2 
A paragraph headed "Swearing Rattlesnakes," printed in the Chicago 
Tribune of May 5, begins: "Still at the work of swearing Rattle- 
snakes. . . . But with chagrin they now see the mailed hand open 
again, and these Copperheads gliding safely away" (p. 1/1). A 
letter from Concord township, Champaign County, Ohio, stated 
that "The Blacksnakes held what they called a loyal war meeting 
here a few days since." 3 Our extracts are brought to an end with 
the following vigorous and amusing retort from the Crisis of May 6: 

Copperheads vs. Blacksnakes. 

The Black Republicans, excessively fond of applying pet names to 
their opponents, are now very industriously applying the term " Copper- 
heads " to the Democrats. We like it much. There is an applicability 
about it which speaks out boldly and has a palpable meaning. 

The "Copperhead" is peculiar to this country — a fearless, inde- 
pendent snake that knows its power, and when disturbed or interfered 
with, uses it. It is a brave snake, and, therefore, naturally tolerant, harm- 
less and passive; but take care you do not trample upon it, for it never 
runs except to attack its foe, and its bite, when once aroused, is awful. 

Now, the representative of the Republicans, opposite to the Copper- 
head, is the Blacksnake. And here, too, the analogy is complete. The 
Blacksnake is a cowardly, hissing, thieving reptile. He possesses some- 
what the power to charm, but he always charms the innocent to de- 
struction. — He robs bird's nests, visits barn yards and sucks hens' eggs, 
and will often be found coiled around the legs of a cow, sucking her milk, 
just as Black Republican contractors, jobbers, and office holders are 
now doing with Uncle Samuel's cow. 4 

The earliest cartoon I have seen in which a snake is represented is 
in Harper's Weekly of February 28, 1863, reproduced facing page 



1 Old Guard, i. 92. « i. 94. 

3 Crisis, May 6, iii. 118. • iii. 119. 



236 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April, 

232. 1 The same illustration was used in a broadside entitled 
"Copperheads vigorously Prosecuting Peace. Resolutions of the 
Hartford Convention, Feb. 18, 1863. Woodcut. Large folio, 2 
columns. (Hartford, 1863)." 2 In Vanity Fair of May 2 is a car- 
toon labelled, "Lord Lyons: In full regalia, as he appeared on the 
occasion of being chosen Chief Moderator of the Copperhead or 
K.G.C." 3 The British Minister at Washington has on an apron 
on which is depicted a snake, and in his hand is a caduceus (with 
two snakes). In the same paper of May 9 is a cartoon labelled 
"Manton Marble: The Man of 'The World;'" and underneath the 
words "The World" is a snake. 4 Charles Godfrey Leland's Ye Book 
of Copperheads, the title-page of which is also here reproduced 
(facing this page), was probably published about June, 1863. In his 
Memoirs, published in 1893, Leland said: 

I was very busy during the first six months of 1863. ... I also wrote 
and illustrated, with the aid of my brother, a very eccentric pamphlet, 
"The Book of Copperheads." When Abraham Lincoln died two books 
were found in his desk. One was the " Letters of Petroleum V. Naseby," 
by Dr. R. Locke, and my " Book of Copperheads," which latter was sent 
to me to see and return. 5 

1 Harper's Weekly, vii. 144. In the legend attached to a cartoon in Harper's 
Weekly of January 31 (see p. 212, above) are the words "Peace Sneaks." It is 
clear from the extracts here given that the Republicans indulged in a play on 
the words "snake" and "sneak" — and perhaps such a pun was intended in that 
legend. 

* This title is taken from the catalogue of Libbie's sale of April 25-26, 1918, 
no. 225, p. 19. The broadside was bought by the Library of Congress, and I am 
indebted to our associate Mr. A. P. C. Griffin for the information that the wood- 
cut is identical with the one in Harper's Weekly of February 28. 
8 Vanity Fair, vii. 33. ' vii. 45. 

8 Memoirs, London, ii. 44. Mrs. Joseph Pennell also states that Leland " wrote, 
with his brother [Henry Perry Leland], 'The Book of Copperheads,' and illustrated 
it" (Charles Godfrey Leland, 1906, i. 254). As the pamphlet contains on its 
last page an extract from the Richmond Enquirer of May 18, and on p. 22 a car- 
toon dated May 23, it could not have been published earlier than the very end of 
May; but possibly some of the cartoons or rhymes had appeared elsewhere be- 
fore being published in book form. The following is taken from Vanity Fair of 
May 2 (vii. 35): 

Yeal Verily! 
"The Philadelphia 'Copperheads,'" 

Quoth Uncle Sam to me, 
"Are in a very shaky state, 

As whoso reads 'The Book' may seel" 




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1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 237 

In 1863 there was also published at Philadelphia a skit entitled, 
"Ye Sneak Yclepid Copperhead. A Satirical Poem. I do not like 
'em — sneaks, I mean." On the title-page is a cut of an eagle seiz- 
ing a snake in its talons, and there are seven illustrations, in all of 
which a snake is depicted. 1 

Reviewing the evidence as a whole, it appears that Butternut and 
Copperhead — like Whig, Tory, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, Uncle 
Sam, and scores of other terms — take their place among the desig- 
nations which have been accepted by those to whom they were 
originally applied in contempt or in mild derision. 



"How so?" quoth I with mild surprise. 

"Why, see you not how dire their need 
Must be whose chief dependence lies, 
As theirs, upon 'a broken Reed'?" 

This would seem to be an allusion to William Bradford Reed of Philadelphia, who 

is satirized in Leland's pamphlet, a cartoon on p. 10 having the inscription: 

There once was a twistified Reed, who took for his pattern Snake-JFeed; 

Till the Copperheads all, great, middling, and small, 

Seemed straight by the side of this Reed. 

On the other hand, I have found no proof that the cartoons or rhymes were 
printed independently, and Mrs. Pennell kindly informs me that as her uncle's 
books and papers are stored in London she can throw no light on this matter. 

1 In the catalogue of the Boston Public Library this is attributed to Leland, 
though on what authority is not stated; and Mrs. Pennell, as she kindly writes 
me, hesitates to say anything about it. "Ye Introduction" to this skit begins: 
"Ye 'sneak' is a sly-bird. Ye rattle-snake, indeed, hath some chivalry, even if 
it is in its tail; but ye Sneaks yclepid 'Copperheads' hath none." 



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